This invention pertains fasteners, and more particularly fasteners which have expandable legs and which attach one object to another object.
In the original conventional technology of fasteners employed to securely attach one object to another, such as for example one part to another in the case of an automobile or an appliance, has utilized a nut on one of the two objects, usually welded or glued to the back of said object, and a bolt passing through a hole on the second object in a manner to be engaged by the nut, thereby securing the two objects together.
This arrangement presents many problems, among which, one of the most important is that in the case that one object is hollow, the nut has to be in place at the back of the hollow object before assembling the two objects together. If for any reason the nut is misplaced, and/or if it becomes desirable to introduce a new fastening connection between the two objects, the task of achieving such connection becomes very difficult if not impossible for all practical purposes.
The so-called xe2x80x9cquick nutsxe2x80x9d have also been used to connect two objects. In addition, vibration during the operation of a device, such as an automobile or appliance for example, containing the two objects results very often in loosening of the bolt or xe2x80x9cquick nutxe2x80x9d and in either full disassembling of the objects from each other, or in a vibration noise which is most annoying and often of unacceptable levels. Further, such connections are not water-resistant and water may be easily penetrate the connection point and be transferred from one side of one or both objects to the other side.
Recently, fasteners of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,238 (Vassiliou) have been utilized to reduce considerably the potential of bolt or screw loosening and vibration. They have also eliminated the problem of having to place one member of the fastener at the back portion of the hollow object. These fasteners are placed through a slot from the front part of the hollow object. The second part of the fastener, being usually a bolt or a screw, supports the second object by forcing the legs of the fastener (as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,238) to open or expand, thereby securing the two objects together. The fasteners of this type have greatly improved the prevailing torque (torque required to render a screw loose), as well as the pulling force (pulling force applied on a screw to the point of failure) of the system.
The fasteners of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,238 have a funnel portion into which an expanding is driven for expanding the legs of the fastener. This funnel has a bucket-like shape which has been impressed on the legs during the manufacture of the fastener. This impression derived funnel is rather inflexible and in some occasions has a tendency to drive the expanding member in undesired direction. A good example of such an occasion is the case of the fasteners described in provisional patent application No. 60/171,544, filed on Dec. 22, 1999 and patent application No. 09/611,134, filed Jul. 6, 2000, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. In both cases, one major object of these inventions is to provide fasteners which are easy to install even in awkward and difficult to reach positions. However, the expanding member, when inserted, is sometimes misaligned after reaching the bucket-like funnel, a situation which is corrected by the funnel configuration of this invention.
Further, the present invention may eliminate, if so desired, barbs which are used to support the fastener in one of parts to be connected together by said fastener.
In addition, the funnel configuration of the instant invention may be used to provide engagement under the head of the fastener, a very desirable attribute in a plurality of occasions.
A large number of other advantages are also derived from the critical configuration of the funnel of the present invention.
In the following text, the following comments and definitions are appropriate:
The expanding member is preferably a screw having threads and a root on which the threads are supported.
Engageable hole or region is an at least partial hole or region which can be engaged with a screw, or similar element.
At least partial hole may be a part of a hole, such as an arc for example. However, the hole does not have to be round.
Curved portion is defined as a portion having a non-linear configuration, even if it comprises smaller non-aligned linear sections, such as saw tooth for example.
Pitch of a screw is defined as the distance between two consecutive threads of the screw.
This invention pertains spring fasteners comprising:
(a) a substantially flat head portion having an upper side, and a lower side, the upper side having a hole through which an expanding member can pass;
(b) a neck having an opening and two side neck portions, the neck extending from the lower side of the substantially flat head portion at a substantially right angle with respect to the substantially flat head portion;
(c) two substantially flat legs extending from the neck, each leg having an inner surface, the two inner surfaces of the two legs being at an initial proximity with each other, the legs being expandable in opposite directions upon inserting through and engaging to the first oblong engageable hole an expanding member, thus bringing the expanding member to a contact region of the legs; and
(d) a Y-shaped funnel in the vicinity of the contact region, the Y-shaped funnel comprising partially cut leg portions extending outwardly from the legs.
The hole may be substantially round having a diameter, and the funnel may preferably have a first width longer than the diameter of the hole. The hole is preferably but not necessarily engageable to the expanding member. The hole may also comprise an oblong opening having a second width, the second width being preferably at least as long as the first width.
The oblong hole may have a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side being disposed at a first plane and the second side disposed at a second plane different than the first plane, the first side having a first edge and the second side having a second edge. Preferably, the expanding member has threads, a root, and a pitch, and the first edge and the second edge are separated by a distance corresponding to the pitch of the expanding member.
The first edge and/or the second edge may be linear and/or curved.
A portion of the fastener under the upper side of the head may comprise an engageable element to the expanding member.
The fastener may comprise an elastic body molded at least at the lower side of the head of the fastener.
The Y-shaped funnel may comprise an inwardly bent upper portion. Further, the Y-shaped funnel may be adequately long so as to engage under a specified panel, through a slot of which panel the spring fastener has been inserted and the legs of said fastener have been expanded by the expanding member.
Also, the Y-shaped funnel may comprise an inwardly bent upper portion, and said Y-shaped funnel may be adequately long to engage under a specified panel, through a slot of which panel the spring fastener has been inserted and the legs of said fastener have been expanded by the expanding member.
As aforementioned, the portion of the fastener, at least under the upper side of the head, may comprise an element engageable to the expanding member. Such engageable elements are achieved by the present invention, and are also described in provisional applications No. 60/167,080 (Vassiliou), filed Nov. 23, 1999, No. 60/169,477 (Vassiliou), filed Dec. 7, 1999, No. 60/170,611, filed on Dec. 14, 1999, and No. 60/179,834, filed Feb. 2, 2000, all four of which provisional applications are incorporated herein by reference.
As also aforementioned, When water-proofing, and/or gas-proofing are desired for a particular application, and/or vibration noises are to be prevented, an elastic body is preferably integrally molded at least at the lower side of the substantially flat head portion. Such elastic bodies are for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,343 (Smith), in the provisional application of Kanubhai Manibhai Patel, Michael Walter Smith and Edward John Smith, titled xe2x80x9cHigh Performance Sealing Fastenerxe2x80x9d, having a Serial No. 60,170,112, and filed on Dec. 10, 1999, which provisional application is incorporated herein by reference, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/561,505, filed Apr. 28, 2000, which is also incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention also pertains vehicles comprising parts connected with the above described spring fasteners.